The England rugby centre's name made almost as much of a stir as his Six
Nations debut against Scotland

Sports commentators are no strangers to hyperbole. They will often claim that the name of this or that sportsman or woman will “live long in the memory” following some extraordinary display of skill.

In the case of Billy Twelvetrees, the England centre who made his international debut in the Six Nations at Twickenham on Saturday, it may well be true. Win or lose, few were likely to forget that surname.

The 24-year-old won roars of approval from the crowd of 80,000 as he powered past the Scottish defence to score his first try for England, helping the team to a 38-18 victory.

But since then he and his family have been asked as many questions about his unusual name as his prowess on the pitch.

Will Greenwood, the former World Cup winner, praised the “horticultural theme developing in the England centre shirt”, while Clare Balding said she wanted to name a racehorse after Twelvetrees.

“Everyone has been asking where it came from,” says Walter Twelvetrees, 88, Billy’s proud grandfather, at his home in Wisborough Green, West Sussex.

The answer actually lies with Billy’s mother, Beverley, he explains. She was the last of Walter’s three daughters to get married and her sisters had already abandoned their maiden names.

Beverley not only wanted to keep her name, but even asked her husband, Kevin, to change his from Fentiman to Twelvetrees. “Kevin always says she told him she wouldn’t marry him unless he changed his name,” Walter recalls.

There was, though, another reason. “Twelvetrees” fitted well with Kevin’s job – as a tree surgeon. The couple have since set up Twelvetrees Treecare.

A coincidence, of course. However, there is a theory called nominative determinism that suggests Beverley’s name could have influenced her decision to join her husband in his work.

“You would think you couldn’t make this case up,” explains Richard Coates, professor in linguistics at the University of the West of England.

“But if someone has a particular surname, it might subliminally nudge them into choosing a line of business they had not thought of. Some people treat it as a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Billy’s team-mates tease him over his name, he says. Christened William Wesley Twelvetrees, he is known in the rugby world as 36, thanks to the way his Irish former team-mate at Leicester, Geordan Murphy, pronounced his name.

“In an Irish accent it sounds like 'twelve threes’,” he explains.

This joshing is fine by Billy. “I’m glad [my dad] took the name and I have it, too. It generates funny nicknames, it’s a cool name and people respond to it.”

The family has found it harder to trace the name’s origins. Although they have found Twelvetrees living in Lincolnshire in the 1600s, Walter cannot explain the meaning of the name. “It is a mystery where it comes from,” agrees Prof Coates.

Research suggests the name is a derivation of “Tweltrick”, which originated in the 1500s, but Prof Coates says this obscures its meaning even further.

“It clearly has nothing to do with trees originally – the first 'tree’ doesn’t appear in the name until nearly the end of the 17th century,” he says. “It is also an open question whether or not it has anything to do with 12.”

Whatever its origins, Paul Longley, professor of geographic information science at University College London, confirms that people bearing the name of Twelvetrees are very rare.

He has a database that matches surnames to a world map and says: “There are 1.25 of them per million. Not a lot of people know that.” His map also shows the Twelvetrees have a “taste for the good life”, with the highest concentrations in Majorca and Hawaii.

“The problem with people who have names like this is that they are in danger of becoming extinct [because there are so few of them],” says Prof Longley. “They should pal up with the Sevenoaks.”

Sporting chants are not known for their accuracy, but Prof Longley’s research suggests there really may be only one Billy Twelvetrees.